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Bat rules explained

"BBCOR", "BESR", "MOI", "ABI", "Drop" - what in the world do these mean and
what do they have to do with a baseball bat? Well, as it turns out,
quite a lot. Years ago, bat manufacturers, in the interest of
providing a competitive advantage (and to sell more bats), developed
models with materials other than wood such as aluminum and other
metal alloys. As the years went by the science of these materials
and the designs of the bats became much more sophisticated, again, all in
the name of providing hitters with an advantage at the plate, and it
worked: batting averages and offensive numbers increased noticeably
at all levels where non-wood bats were permitted.

Things reached a peak when bat makers began offering exotic composite
materials in the barrels and/or handles of the bats, creating even
higher performance numbers and competitive advantages. These bats
were also extremely expensive and subject to cracking and even
shattering, plus, as it turns out, they posed a safety hazard to
defensive players because of the increased speed of the ball coming
off the bat.

The exaggerated offensive performance figures, combined with the
safety concerns and illegal practices such as bat-doctoring,
prompted officials of the game, from the college level and down, to
begin considering restrictions in the use of non-wood
bats. (Some purists would like only wood bats to be used like
they are in Major League Baseball, but that wasn't about to
happen.) The goal was to come up with standards for non-wood bats
that made them perform like wood bats, even if it meant
reducing offensive performance numbers, and at the same time reduce
safety concerns.

The process took some years and went through various phases of
implementation, but in 2012 it all came together. New non-wood bat standards have
now been implemented by the NCAA, the National
Federation of High Schools (NFHS), Little League International®, and
other youth baseball organizations.

For those who want to know the technical details of how and why these
standards were developed, keep reading after the next section. For
those who just want to know what bats can and can't be used, let's cut to
the chase -

The following are guidelines for bats to be used at Lakeland
City Baseball games:

For Major League and below -

All bats must not exceed a maximum
diameter of 2-1/4".

Any bat that does not have composite
materials in the barrel (i.e., all metal, all alloy, all
wood) and meets all other applicable standards is
permitted. Remember: wood bats are
permitted in Major League and below as long as
they do not exceed 2-1/4" in diameter.

Any bat with a handle made of
composite materials and with a barrel of non-composite
materials (i.e., alloy), and meets all other applicable
standards and maximum diameter is permitted.

No bat
with a composite barrel is permitted for use except
those listed on the Little League International®
list of
approved composite-barrel bats, which can be found by
clicking
here.

For Junior League -

All bats must not exceed a maximum
diameter of 2-5/8".

Any bat that does not have composite
materials in the barrel (i.e., all metal, all alloy, all
wood) and meets all other applicable standards is permitted.
Remember: wood bats are permitted
in Junior League as long as they do not exceed 2-5/8" in
diameter.

Any bat with a handle made of composite
materials and with a barrel of non-composite materials
(i.e., alloy), and meets all other applicable standards and
maximum diameter is
permitted.

Bats without composite materials in the
barrel can have any "drop".

Bats with composite barrels are permitted
in Junior League but must meet
the "BBCOR .50" standard and be permanently labeled so.

(Note: Lakeland City Baseball is not an organization chartered by
Little League International®, but we do follow
many of their guidelines for
bat use.)

The Geeky Stuff

As explained above, non-wood bats became way too "hot", meaning
they were performing at levels much higher than wood bats, to
the point where it could be said that it was more the piece of
equipment generating the high batting numbers and less the
human attached to the other end. Plus, people were getting hurt.

BBS
So what does a non-wood bat do differently than a wood bat? Well,
the main reason non-wood (metal) bats were developed was to make the
ball go further, faster. How do you measure that? One way is to use a measurement
called "batted-ball speed", or BBS. When compared with a wood bat,
bats using different materials in the barrel could generate a higher
BBS, making them VERY attractive to hitters looking for an
advantage.

BESR
When it became evident that metal bats were going to become the norm
at the college and high school levels, and they were outperforming
wood bats by a wide margin, the NCAA decided to come up with a bat
performance standard so they could begin controlling their use,
because without some sort of limit bat manufacturers were going to
keep developing higher-performing bats and further distort the game.
The new standard of that day was called the "Ball Exit Speed Ratio",
or BESR. It is a formula that produces a ratio of the speed at which
the ball exits the bat/ball collision divided by the combined speeds
of the bat and ball before the collision.

MOI
By knowing the BESR of a bat, comparisons could be made between the
various types of bats, therefore limits could be placed. The limits
were achieved by regulating something called the
"Moment-of-Inertia", or MOI. The MOI directly affects the bat swing
speed, meaning that a bat with a larger MOI would be more difficult
to swing. Lower bat speed due to a larger MOI means a lower BBS,
which means a lower BESR. A smaller MOI would result in the
opposite. The MOI is regulated by adjusting where the weight is in
the bat: The bulk of the weight near the handle makes bats swing
faster, whereas more weight in the barrel makes them slower.

Bat doctoring, "aging" and ABI
There was an initial dampening effect on bat peformance when the BESR was
regulated, but manufacturers quickly found ways around it,
particulary with the advent of composites. These high-tech resin and
adhesive materials produced bat barrels with a bouncy, or "trampoline" effect when
coming into contact with the pitched ball, adding yet another
performance factor to non-wood bats. With the advent of composites,
some wiley users discovered
that by running the composite bat's barrel through nylon or hard-rubber rollers,
or by compressing or hammering the barrel, they could break down the resin and adhesive
layers and accelerate the "aging" of the bat, and
an aged composite bat becomes more flexible, or springier, enhancing
the trampoline effect, therefore creating a higher ball speed off
the bat. These "bat doctoring" techniques are now considered
cheating. Artificially "aged" bats crack under impact
with a pitched ball and
even shatter into pieces, putting defensive players at risk and
costing the players and/or parents a LOT of money to replace the
bat. (Then there was a cat-and-mouse game being played between the
bat owners and manufacturers about what was and wasn't covered by
the warranty, something very important to people dropping
hundreds of dollars on a bat.) Part of the new standards include
ABI, or accelerated break-in, guidelines. The ABI standard
establishes how a composite-barrelled bat must perform during its
potential useful life in the field, with the goal of having the bat
stay at or below a certain threshold of performance during its
natural, and unaltered, lifetime. Any increase in performance after
the bat's production is not allowed.

Cheaters, beware.

Welcome BBCOR
To get a handle on these new composite-barrel bats for use in Junior
League, a new testing
protocol was developed called "Bat-Ball Coefficient of Restitution",
or BBCOR (pronounced "bee-bee core"), which, when combined with the BESR, MOI
and ABI standards, are
the overall measures bats with composite barrels must achieve to be used in
LCB Junior League games and elsewhere. BBCOR standards
are designed to compare performance versus wood bats,
and with limits intended to make composite-barrel bats perform like
wood bats.

Simply put, the BBCOR standard sets the maximum trampoline effect
a bat can have over its natural and unaltered lifetime in the field. Think of a tennis ball being hit off a tennis racket
versus bouncing it on the floor. The tennis ball will travel much
further off a racket than off the floor. The racket strings deflect,
or bend, then jump back and propel the ball. The floor won't bend,
thus the tennis ball won't travel as far. That is the same effect of
a baseball struck off a hollow bat versus a wood bat. The hollow bat
surface of a composite barrel will deflect significantly when coming into
contact with the baseball, then spring back, providing more energy
and a higher speed off the bat to the ball, whereas a metal bat will
deflect only somewhat and a wood bat hardly at all, almost
eliminating the trampoline effect. If you limit the trampoline
effect you limit the speed of the ball off the bat.

BBCOR makes composite-barrelled bats perform like wood bats.

Get the drop
It so happens that the BBCOR standard also limits the "drop" of the bat.
("Bat drop" is the difference between a bat's length and its weight.
A 30" length bat weighing 25 ounces will have a -5 bat drop.) All
BBCOR-labeled bats will automatically have a drop of -3 or less.

Wither wood?
The goal with the BBCOR standard was to produce a speed off the bat
and other performance measures as close as possible to those of the
best wood bats. That goal was achieved when a bat measured a
coefficient of 0.500 using the BBCOR formula, hence the term "BBCOR
.50", which is what you'll see on the new bat labels.

The bottom line
What is the effect of the new standard? It is agreed that at the
NCAA and high school levels there is a measureable 5-6% decrease in
bat performance, and a noticeable difference in the sound of the
ball striking the bat. It is more of a thud and less of a ping.
Batters at those levels lament the loss of the advantage 'hot' bats
had given them, but the result is that batted balls will not travel
as fast, or as far; there are fewer home runs; defensive players
are safer and we'll all get back to emphasizing the fundamentals with
a more balanced game. It's almost like everyone's gone to a wood-bat
league...

Going, going... gone!
'Juiced' composite bats are history. Advantage: pitchers and good
defense. Small ball is back!

IF YOUR JUNIOR LEAGUE PLAYER INTENDS TO USE A BAT WITH A
COMPOSITE BARREL DURING AN LCB GAME, IT MUST BE PERMANENTLY LABELED
LIKE THIS:

- OR
-

HOWEVER, unlike high school, LCB Junior League players can use
a non-BBCOR bat, but they cannot have a composite barrel.
Bats with aluminum or alloy barrels are permitted whether they have
the BBCOR label or not, and of course, wood bats are permitted as
well. All bats in LCB Junior League must not exceed a 2-5/8" barrel
diameter.